System and method for optimized flight planning

ABSTRACT

A computer-implemented system and method for the processing and optimization of flight plans is disclosed. Information regarding a plurality of previous flight plans is received over a digital network and is stored in at least a database. The database preferably includes aviation fuel price information, aircraft performance information, and aviation weather information as well. Upon receiving a request, a server generates at least an optimized portion of a flight plan. In one form, historical flight plan data of others is automatically used to aid in the determination of the optimized route offered to the user for review, with the resulting final flight plan being electronically filed with the FAA upon approval. In a further form, the user may arrange fuel transactions at intermediate destinations with the service provider receiving a fee in exchange for facilitating the transaction.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional of U.S. application Ser. No.12/358,933, filed Jan. 23, 2009, which is hereby incorporated byreference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to a system and method forelectronically processing flight plans. More particularly, the presentinvention pertains to a web-based flight planning service which providesvarious flight planning and refueling optimizations.

BACKGROUND

A flight plan is a document filed by a pilot, dispatcher, or acontroller with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), or anothercivil aviation authority, prior to departure. A flight plan generallyincludes the basic information one would expect, such as departure date,time, and an origin and destination airport. In addition to thesenecessary details, a flight plan also includes the aircraftidentification and aircraft type, an estimated time en route, a listingof alternate airports for use in the event of bad weather, the type offlight (either instrument flight rules (IFR) or visual flight rules(VFR)), pilot's name, and number of people on board. In the UnitedStates, flight plans are required for flights under IFR so that airtraffic control may initiate tracking and routing services. Under VFR, aflight plan is optional unless the flight's path will cross nationalborders. Despite this, flight plans are highly recommended in many VFRflights as they provide a way of alerting rescuers if the flight isoverdue/missing, and they provide flight following that may warn ofother nearby air traffic en route.

The process of producing a flight plan to describe a proposed aircraftflight is well known in the art. Typically, when a flight plan isproduced, the pilot (1) calculates the amount of fuel required tocomplete the trip and (2) checks for compliance with air traffic controlrequirements, checks for clearance from terrain and structures neartakeoff and landing areas, considers potentials for mid-air collisions,avoids restricted or prohibited areas of flight, and the like. Inaddition to these safety requirements, a pilot or individual making aflight plan may attempt to minimize overall flight costs by selectingthe most efficient route, height, and speed for their particularaircraft type and sometimes seek to load the minimum necessary fuel,plus a safety reserve, on board, to maximize flight efficiencies. Inflights having a longer duration, fixed base operators having disparateprices for aviation fuel are utilized at airports along the way.

In order to accomplish these goals, flight planning benefits fromaccurate and up-to-date information. For example, accurate weatherforecasts are desired so that fuel consumption calculations can accountfor the fuel consumption effects of head or tail winds and airtemperature. Furthermore, under the supervision of air traffic control,aircraft flying in controlled airspace may be required to followpredetermined routes known as airways, even if such routes are not aseconomical as a more direct flight. Within these airways, aircraft mustmaintain flight levels, specified altitudes usually separated verticallyby 1000 or 2000 feet (305 or 610 m), depending on the route being flown,the altitude en route, and the direction of travel. Additionally, theperformance of each different aircraft types varies based on altitude,air pressure, temperature and weight. When attempting to formulate anefficient flight plan, one quickly discovers that a large number ofcalculations would be required in order to formulate a flight plan thatis even close to optimized. As a result, most flight plans follow one ofseveral common routes at available altitudes which have the mostfavorable current or forecast weather conditions. However, sometimesthese are not the most efficient routes under varying circumstances. Thepresent invention solves a number of these inefficiencies as well asother problems present in the process of flight planning, as areillustrated in the descriptions that follow.

SUMMARY

Various technologies and techniques are disclosed for providingoptimized flight planning services to a remote user. In one form, theuser accesses a service through a series of web pages presented to theuser. The user is able to specify an airport or area forarrival/departure for a future flight in a specified airplane type. Theservice then calculates an optimized route for the flight based uponaircraft performance data, available fuel costs, and up-to-date currentor forecast aviation weather. In an alternate form, a flight route isformed from information within stored historical flight plans. Byoptimizing the path of a flight in this manner, many benefits can berealized.

In another embodiment, the service allows the user to arrange thepurchase of aviation fuel at various locations. In a preferred form, theuser is able to purchase the fuel at a discount provided by the service.In exchange, the service receives a fee from the affiliated fixed baseoperator for directing the transaction to them.

This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form that are described in further detail in the detaileddescription and drawings contained herein. This Summary is not intendedto identify key features or essential features of the claimed subjectmatter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scopeof the claimed subject matter, as the claims appended thereto serve thatfunction. Still further forms, embodiments, objects, advantages,benefits, features, and aspects of the present invention will becomeapparent from the detailed description and drawings contained herein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic view of a computer system of oneimplementation.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating the process for generating a flightplan based upon previous plans.

FIG. 3 is sample flight plan form as specified by the FAA and utilizedby the present system and method.

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic view of a result displayed to a user in oneform of the present system and method illustrated in FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating the process for generating anoptimized flight plan based upon aviation weather and aircraftperformance information.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating the process for providing fueltransaction scheduling with affiliated FBOs during flight planning.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

For the purposes of understanding of the principles of the invention,reference will now be made to the embodiment illustrated in the drawingsand specific language will be used to describe the same. It willnevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of theinvention is thereby intended. Any alterations and further modificationsin the described embodiments, and any further applications of theprinciples of the invention as described herein are contemplated aswould normally occur to one skilled in the art to which the inventionrelates.

On any given day, more than 87,000 flights take to the skies in theUnited States. Only 35 percent, or just over 30,000, of those flightsare commercial carriers, such as Delta, United, or Southwest. Themajority of the remaining flights, roughly 50,000, are general aviationflights (private planes), and air taxi flights (planes for hire), withthe remaining being either military or cargo aircraft. While each ofthese is not required to submit a flight plan, a substantial portion ofthem do. In addition, the number of daily non-commercial flights isgrowing and will undoubtedly continue to rise as the need for airtransportation increases.

Currently, flight planning is a relatively routine process. However, itis far from optimized and can be quite burdensome. Until applicants'invention, the exact flight plans of others have been difficult toobtain. In addition, a flight plan between two locations may be suitableon one day, but inefficient under the conditions of a subsequent day.Applicants have incorporated many of the features disclosed herein intoa fully functioning website at flightaware.com/flightplan.

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic view of a multi-site computer system 20 of oneembodiment of the present invention. In the illustrative embodiment,computer system 20 includes aviation information service 10, twoaffiliated fixed base operator servers 40, and three client computers30. In order to preserve clarity, only a small number of the manyconnected fixed base operator servers and client computers have beenshown. Computer system 20 also includes computer network 22. Computernetwork 22 couples together a number of computers 21 a-21 g over networkpathways 23 a-23 g, respectively. More specifically, system 20 includesseveral servers, namely Web Server 11 and Database Server 12 of aviationinformation service 10, and FBO (fixed base operators) Servers 40 a and40 b, which are operated by affiliated fixed base operators at variousgeographic locations. System 20 also includes client computers 30 a, 30b, and 30 c (collectively 30). While computers 21 a-21 g are eachillustrated as being a server or client, it should be understood thatany of computers 21 a-21 g may be arranged to include both a client anda server. Furthermore, it should be understood that while sevencomputers 21 a-21 g are illustrated, more or fewer may be utilized inalternative embodiments. Preferably, service 10 includes a collection ofWeb servers 11 for receiving, processing, and responding to userqueries.

Computers 21 a-21 g include one or more processors or CPUs (50 a, 50 b,50 c, 50 d, 50 e, 50 f and 50 g, respectively) and one or more types ofmemory (52 a, 52 b, 52 c, 52 d, 52 e, 52 f and 52 g, respectively). Eachmemory 52 preferably includes a removable memory device. Each processor50 may be comprised of one or more components configured as a singleunit. When of a multi-component form, a processor 50 may have one ormore components located remotely relative to the others. One or morecomponents of each processor 50 may be of the electronic varietydefining digital circuitry, analog circuitry, or both. Optical computingcould be used as an alternative. In one embodiment, each processor 50 isof a conventional, integrated circuit microprocessor arrangement, suchas one or more OPTERON processors supplied by ADVANCED MICRO DEVICESCorporation of One AMD Place, Sunnyvale, Calif. 94088, USA.

Each memory 52 (removable, fixed or both) is one form of acomputer-readable device. Each memory may include one or more types ofsolid-state electronic memory, magnetic memory, or optical memory, justto name a few. By way of non-limiting example, each memory may includesolid-state electronic Random Access Memory (RAM), SequentiallyAccessible Memory (SAM) (such as the First-In, First-Out (FIFO) varietyor the Last-In-First-Out (LIFO) variety), Programmable Read Only Memory(PROM), Electronically Programmable Read Only Memory (EPROM), orElectrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM); an opticaldisc memory (such as a DVD or CD ROM); a magnetically encoded hard disc,floppy disc, tape, or cartridge media; or a combination of any of thesememory types, or other types not included in the above list. Also, eachmemory may be volatile, nonvolatile, or a hybrid combination of volatileand nonvolatile varieties.

Although not shown to preserve clarity, one or more of computers 21 a-21g may be coupled to a display and/or may include an integrated display.Computers 21 a-21 g may be of the same type, or a heterogeneouscombination of different computing devices. Likewise, displays may be ofthe same type, or a heterogeneous combination of different visualdevices. Although again not shown to preserve clarity, each computer 21a-21 g may also include one or more operator input devices such as akeyboard, mouse, track ball, light pen, and/or microtelecommunicator, toname just a few representative examples. Also, besides a display, one ormore other output devices may be included such as a loudspeaker orprinter. Various display and input device arrangements are possible.

Computer network 22 can be in the form of a wireless or wired Local AreaNetwork (LAN), Municipal Area Network (MAN), Wide Area Network (WAN),such as the Internet, a combination of these, or such other networkarrangement as would occur to those skilled in the art. The operatinglogic of system 20 can be embodied in signals transmitted over network22, in programming instructions, dedicated hardware, or a combination ofthese. It should be understood that more or fewer computers likecomputers 21 a-21 g can be coupled together by computer network 22, andthat Web Server 11 and Database Server 12 may also be connected to oneanother by a private LAN or similar private connection.

In one embodiment, system 20 operates at several various geographiclocations. For example, aviation information service 10 may operate inone state, while FBO Servers 40 a and 40 b and client computers 30 mayall be located in other unique states. Web Server 11 of service 10 isconfigured as a web server that hosts application business logic 33 foran aviation information engine, Database Server 12 is configured as adatabase server for storing aviation related information, includingflight plans, within data store 34 and at least one of client computers30 is configured for providing a user interface 32 a-32 c, respectively,for accessing the aviation information service 10. Preferably, DatabaseServer 12 maintains at least 1 month of historical previously filedflight plans in data store 34, and most preferably maintains at leastsix months. In addition, Database Server 12 maintains FBO information,up-to-date aircraft performance information specified by variousaircraft manufacturers, and aviation weather information within datastore 34. In a further form, Database Server 12 maintains data store 34as a memory-resident database to provide more advanced searchingfunctionality and to minimize response times. User interface 32 a-32 cof client computers 30 a-30 c can be an installable application such asone that communicates with Web Server 11, can be browser-based, and/orcan be embedded software, to name a few non-limiting examples.

In one embodiment, software installed locally on client computers 30a-30 c is used to communicate with Web Server 11. In another embodiment,Web Server 11 provides HTML pages, data from web services, and/or otherInternet standard or company proprietary data formats to one or moreclient computers 30 a-30 c when requested. One of ordinary skill in theart will recognize that the term web server is used generically forpurposes of illustration and is not meant to imply that network 22 isrequired to be the Internet. As described previously, network 22 can beone of various types of networks as would occur to one of ordinary skillin the art. It shall be appreciated that data store 34 on DatabaseServer 12 is suitably arranged to store data such as flight plans, fuelprices, historical weather information, and aircraft performanceinformation to name a few representative examples.

In the illustrative embodiment, aviation fuel availability and pricinginformation is received from each FBO Server 40. This information mayinclude the price of various types of aviation fuels such as, forpurposes of non-limiting example, Jet A and 100LL. This information maybe provided to Database Server 12 of service 10 periodically or may besent through Web Server 11 in response to a request, as is describedherein.

Typical applications of system 20 would include more client computerslike computers 30 a-30 c at more physical locations, but only three havebeen illustrated in FIG. 1 to preserve clarity. Furthermore, althoughtwo servers 11 and 12 are shown, it will be appreciated by those ofordinary skill in the art that the one or more features provided by WebServer 11 and Database Server 12 could be provided by the same computeror varying other arrangements of computers at one or more physicallocations and still be within the spirit of the invention. Farms ofdedicated servers, a single proprietary system, and/or a Storage AreaNetwork (SAN) could also be provided to support the specific features ifdesired. In the illustrative embodiment, in order to flexibly handle thelarge quantity of flight information received by service 10, DatabaseServer 12 includes a relational database, such as SQL, as is known toone of skill in the art.

Turning to FIG. 2, with continued reference to FIG. 1, a flowchartillustrating the process for generating a flight route or flight planbased upon previous flight plans is illustrated. The process begins atstart point 200 with the service 10 receiving an origin and destinationfrom a remote user (step 202) connected to Web Server 11 via one ofclient computers 30. The origin and destination may individually beeither an airport (specified by name/code) or a geographic area,depending upon the needs of the user. The origin and destinationprovided by the user is preferably processed by Database Server 12 usingdata within data store 34 to either confirm the existence of the airportcodes or to generate a list of potential airport codes within thespecified geographic area. In addition, the service 10 determines theaircraft type which the user plans to use in the current flight (step204). The aircraft type may be input by the user as an aircraft class,model, specific tail number, and/or by other identifying information. Inaddition, the user may have a user account with service 10 which allowsthe service to automatically know the aircraft flown by the currentuser, as would be appreciated in the art, or to allow the user to easilyselect among several aircraft the user regularly flies. Any specialequipment features of the aircraft can be noted, such as extended fueltanks.

Once the user input is processed, service 10 builds a number ofdeparture airport/destination airport combinations (step 206). In theevent the origin and destination provided by the user are both specificairports, then only a single combination may be identified. In apreferred form, the service 10 utilizes nearby routes to/from nearbyairports to identify routes which may be slightly modified to meet theuser's desired flight. However, in most forms, when either one or bothof the origin and destination includes a location having more than oneavailable airport then a plurality of potential combinations are set forinclusion, except when only a single suitable airport exists within aspecified location.

Given the departure/destination airport combinations, the service 10preferably performs the following steps for each combination, unlessinstructed otherwise by the user. First, service 10 selects an availableorigin/destination airport combination for analysis (step 208) from theones determined in step 206. For ease of reference, the origindestination airports of the currently selected combination will bereferred to, within this section, as airport A and airport B,respectively. In a further form, the various combinations may includesuggested airports, either presented to the user for approval or not,based upon availability indicated by weather information. In a stillfurther form, the suggested alternate airports may be screened to ensureproper runway length, hours of operation, weight requirements, and thelike for the selected aircraft type.

Once the set of combinations is complete, service 10 queries DatabaseServer 12 to identify relevant flight plans (step 210) having a similaraircraft type to that of the current flight. In the preferred form, thequery for previously filed plans is further limited to recently filedplans, such as within the last 12, 24, or 36 hours. In an alternate orfurther form, the query includes current or forecast aviation weatherinformation (i.e. winds aloft, air temperature, icing, etc.) received byWeb Server 11, such as from the National Oceanic and AtmosphericAdministration (NOAA), so that only the previous flight plans mostclosely matching the weather which should be encountered by the currentflight would be considered.

Web Server 11 then utilizes business logic 33 to build a set of routesfrom subsets of the identified flight plans, where each route iscomprised of flight path information from at least a portion of one ormore flight plans (step 212). For instance, one route may be comprisedentirely of a flight path from airport A to airport B in a flight planfiled just hours earlier. Another route may be comprised of only aportion of a flight path which went from airport A to airport C, butstopped at airport B for refueling, with the A to B leg being used andthe B to C leg being discarded. Additionally, still another route withinthe set may include a combination of two or more independent flightsegments (i.e. “leg”) which collectively begin at airport A and end atairport B. For example, a route may be a combination of a leg from aflight which refuels at airport A and destined for airport X and anotherleg from a different flight plan which begins at airport X and ends atairport B. With reference to flight plans herein, it should beunderstood that it may be the flight plans of others as filed are thesource of data, but more preferably, preference may be given to datafrom the flight plans of others in the form approved by the FAA, oralternatively to data from flight plans that have been amended by enroute changes from an actual flight taken. It can be further appreciatedthat a reference to flight plan data herein can also encompasshistorical data from an actual flight that has been completed, wheredata is available as to the actual duration of the flight and actualaltitudes flown, and actual or forecast weather information for thattime period, and the actual route taken and equipment type used.

Upon the completion of the set of routes from one combination in step212, the service 10 determines whether more origin/destination airportcombinations exist (step 214). In the event one does, the processreturns to step 208. Otherwise, the process advances to step 216. Itshall be appreciated that the various iterations of steps 208, 210, and212 may occur in sequence as described herein, for purposes of clarity,or in parallel, such as would be possible in a multi-threaded computingenvironment.

Once all of the routes are built, as determined by step 214, they aremodified in order to fit the departure time of the current user (step216). This may include updating takeoff, waypoint, and arrival times, aswell as many other factors that would be appreciated by one of skill inthe art. Following step 216, the various updated flight routes arepresented to the remote user (step 218). Preferably, the routes arepresented by Web Server 11 to the remote user in the form of a web page,with the routes being sorted according to a set of criteria. Thecriteria may include, but is in no way limited to, total time, time inflight, distance, overall cost, fuel required, or some other best fitheuristic. The process ends at end point 220.

In a further form, Web Server 11 receives a selected route from theremote user (not shown) indicating their desired route. Web server 11then accepts any final flight information required, such as the numberof passenger aboard, and may optionally file the completed flight planelectronically (not shown) with the Federal Aviation Administration(FAA). For performing this function, the standard flight plan templateprovided by the FAA, as shown in FIG. 3, is completed. Additionally, forpurposes of subsequent use, the currently filed flight plan ispreferably stored by Database Server 12 for future use. Thereby, theaccuracy of the flight routes taken by the flight plans stored in datastore 34 increases over time as the recent flight plans evolve.Preferrably, flight plan data is obtained directly from the FAA or airtraffic control as it is received and/or approved and/or modified.

Turning to FIG. 4 a representative web page presented by service 10displaying available flight routes is illustrated. Specifically, FIG. 4shows a representative web page 400 presented in response to a queryconcerning a specific origin airport 402, Indianapolis International(IND), and a specific destination airport 404, Mc Carran International(LAS), in this example. In addition, the aircraft type 406 and thedeparture date/time 408 which accompany the query are displayed. Theresult section 410 within web page 400 is divided into columns whichprovide information about the available routes. Column 412 indicates thefrequency, or number of times, a route has been taken in the selectedtimeframe. Columns 414 and 416, respectively, indicate the origin anddestination of each route. Column 418 indicates the primary altitude ofthe flight, while column 420 gives specifics of the full route. Theroute displayed may be in short form or in decoded form providing thelatitude and longitude of each waypoint and an associated altitude andor climb rate. The remote user may select a route by clicking on it orotherwise and be presented with a subsequent web page allowing them toutilize the service to file a flight plan based upon the selected route,as described herein. Additional information on the referenced flightplans, such as the times they were schedule for, or the tail number ofthe flights, can also be displayed, if desired.

Turning to FIG. 5, with continued reference to FIG. 1, a flowchartillustrating a process for calculating an optimized flight plan basedupon available aviation weather and aircraft performance information isillustrated. The process of FIG. 5 is comparable in large measure tomuch of that described as to FIG. 2. The process begins at start point500 with the service 10 receiving a desired origin and destination froma remote user (step 502) connected to Web Server 11 via one of clientcomputers 30. The service 10 also must determine the aircraft type whichthe user plans to use in the current flight (step 504), as describedherein. Once the user input is complete, the service 10 builds a numberof departure airport/destination airport combinations (step 506).

Given the departure/destination airport combinations, the service 10preferably performs the following steps for each combination, unlessinstructed otherwise by the user. First, service 10 selects an availableorigin/destination airport combination for analysis (step 508) fromthose determined in step 506. The service 10 then queries DatabaseServer 12 to identify the aircraft performance information associatedwith the aircraft type indicated by the remote user (step 510). Inaddition, the service 10 obtains up-to-date current and/or forecastaviation weather information (i.e. winds aloft, air temperature, icing,etc.). In the preferred form, this information is periodically receivedby Web Server 11, such as from the NOAA.

Web Server 11 then utilizes business logic 33 to perform mathematicalcalculations. Parameters that are preferably incorporated includeplanned altitude(s), fuel consumption, wind speed, temperature, and airpressure or density, known aircraft performance characteristics for thespecific type being flown, and other factors including the need for andeffect of anti-ice to calculate a total time and cost for each route(step 512). In a preferred form, each route also includes any necessaryor beneficial refueling stops, and factors in the available cost for thecorrect type of aviation fuel, as is stored in data store 34 of DatabaseServer 12. For instance, one route may include refueling at a selectedFBO at the departure airport and making the flight entirely along aflight path using one altitude to the destination airport. Another routemay include utilizing already available fuel (as specified by the user)to travel to an intermediate refueling destination at one altitude (forrefueling by a different selected FBO) and then continue on to thedestination airport at a different primary altitude. Additionally,various altitudes may be utilized within any single leg of the trip inorder to gain efficiencies from the winds aloft or to avoid the impactof severe weather and/or conditions for icing.

Upon the completion of the set of routes from one combination in step512, the service 10 determines whether more origin/destination airportcombinations exist (step 514). In the event one does, the processreturns to step 508. Otherwise, the process advances to step 516. Itshall be appreciated that the various iterations of steps 508, 510, and512 may occur in parallel or in sequence as described herein.

Once all of the routes are built, as determined by step 514, the variousupdated flight routes are presented to the remote user (step 516), in asimilar fashion to that shown in FIG. 4. A column for total cost andflight duration may be selectively added. Preferably, the routes arepresented by Web Server 11 to the remote user in the form of a web page,with the routes being sorted according to a set of criteria, such astotal cost, time en route, or total number of stops. Once presented, theWeb Server 11 receives a selected route from the remote user (step 518)indicating their desired route. Web Server 11 then accepts any finalflight information, such as the number of passengers aboard, and mayoptionally file the completed flight plan electronically (step 520) withthe Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as described herein. Theprocess ends at end point 522.

Referring now to FIG. 6, with continued reference to FIG. 1, a flowchartillustrating the process for providing fuel transaction scheduling withaffiliated FBOs during flight planning is illustrated. The processbegins at start point 600 with the user submitting an airport orlocation and fuel type to the aviation information service 10 using aweb interface (step 602). In an alternate form, the aviation fuel typemay be predetermined based upon the type of plane associated with theuser or general user settings, as would be appreciate to one of skill inthe art. It shall be appreciated that this information may be taken froma flight plan, such as those described herein, and that the steps ofthis process may be implemented within the steps of the process shown inFIG. 5 to obtain optimal discounted fuel prices.

Once the selected airport is received by service 10 at Web Server 11, alist of fixed base operators (FBOs) matching the airport location isretrieved from Data Store 34 by Database Server 12 (step 604). Usingthis list, Web Server 11 submits a query over network 22 to therespective FBO Server 40 associated with one or more of the FBOs in thelist requesting the current price and availability of the specified fuel(step 606). Alternatively, FBO Servers may be configured to transmit anyprice changes to Web Server 11, such that current pricing informationmay be stored within data store 34 by Database Server 12 for subsequentretrieval and use.

In a preferred form, at least one fuel price is discounted over currentmarket rates according to a prior agreement between the service 10 andthe specific FBO (step 608). In one form, the discount comprises a fixedor graduated percentage or dollar amount based upon some criteria, suchas the number of units purchased from the specific FBO, or a relatedassociation of FBOs, or the total volume purchased through the servicein a specified period. Utilizing these prices, a total price andavailability information for a requested amount of fuel at a variety ofavailable FBOs is presented to the user (step 610.) The user thenselects the FBO of their choice (step 612), such as by clicking on theFBO presented on a web page. Once selected, the user indicates theiracceptance to the terms of the transaction (step 612), which preferablydo not legally bind the user to complete the transaction. Uponacceptance, a note indicating the price and volume, amongst othernecessary details of the scheduled transaction, is sent via Web Server11 to the appropriate FBO Server 40 (step 614). With the transactionscheduled, the user is free to arrive at the FBO and complete thetransaction.

Once the transaction is completed, the FBO Server 40 communicates noticeto Web Server 11 by sending a confirmation (step 616), including theagreed upon price and the total sale amount. In exchange, the FBOassociated with the FBO Server 40 remits a fee to the service 10 inaccordance with their established agreement (step 618). The fee may bein various forms, including a flat or graduated fee, a set, stepped, orgraduated percentage of the transaction, or any combination of these, orother alternatives. The fee may be based on other factors including thevolume purchased from a specific FBO or common association of FBOs in aspecified time period, or the like. The process ends at endpoint 620.

In an alternate form, the remote user may arrange payment with theservice 10, and the service 10 may remit payment associated with eachscheduled transaction to the FBO prior to dispensing the fuel or inresponse to notification of dispensing the fuel, with the service 10keeping the portion of the payment from the user attributable to it,according to the terms of the agreement between the respective FBOproviding the fuel and the service.

In a further preferred form, the service 10 offers to book rental cars,limousines, hotels, and the like based upon information presented duringflight planning. In exchange, the service may also provide a discountfor the user while receiving a fee for directing the business to arespective vendor.

In yet another further preferred form, the service 10 provideselectronic Digital Terminal Procedures Publications (DTPP) charts fordownload having either the necessary charts prioritized or theunnecessary charts removed.

While the invention has been illustrated and described in detail in thedrawings and foregoing description, the same is to be considered asillustrative and not restrictive in character, it being understood thatonly the preferred embodiment has been shown and described and that allequivalents, changes, and modifications that come within the spirit ofthe inventions as described herein and/or by the following claims aredesired to be protected.

Hence, the proper scope of the present invention should be determinedfrom the appended claims so as to encompass all such modifications aswell as all relationships equivalent to those illustrated in thedrawings and described in the specification.

1. A method for flight plan optimization, said method comprising thesteps of: maintaining a first electronic database of aircraftperformance information and aviation weather including at least currenttemperatures and winds aloft; maintaining a second electronic databasecontaining a plurality of fixed base operators, wherein each fixed basedoperator has an associated airport and a current price-per-unit for atleast one type of aviation fuel; receiving over a network flightinformation from a remote user using a first server; wherein said flightinformation includes an origin and destination location, departure time,and an aircraft type; determining a fuel type required for said aircrafttype using said first server; calculating a plurality of flight pathsfrom said origin location to said destination location based uponaccepted FAA guidelines, wherein each flight path comprises a pluralityof flight segments having an altitude, climb rate, and air speed;calculating a total cost for each of said plurality of flight paths,wherein said total cost is calculated as the sum of the total cost ofeach flight segment, wherein the total cost of each flight segment is afunction of the aircraft performance information associated in saidfirst database with said aircraft type, said aviation weather, and saidcurrent price-per-unit for said fuel type associated in said seconddatabase with a selected set of fixed base operators; and transmittingat least a portion of said flight paths and their associated total costto the remote user over said network.
 2. The method of claim 1, whereinat least a pair of flight paths within said plurality follow the sameroute but have different altitudes for at least one point along saidroute.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein aviation icing information isstored in said first electronic database and any determined need foranti-ice is factored into said total cost.